When you suffer chronic back pain, it can feel as though your entire life is disrupted. Workplace pain can lead to lower productivity, more sick days, and more stress. You may not be able to care for yourself or your loved ones if you are in pain at home. Chronic back pain can make it difficult to exercise and stay active, which can lead to additional pain, weight gain, and other sedentary-related disorders.
The good news is, even if you have chronic back pain now, you don’t necessarily have to live with it forever. Contact Mile High Physical Therapy to schedule a consultation with a physical therapist who can help you start feeling better and feeling more in control of your life.
Physical therapy to the rescue: say goodbye to pain!
Most of us will have pain at some point in our lives, but for some people, the agony might last for three months or longer. While reducing pain is a priority, it’s equally crucial to identify and address the causes that contribute to chronic back pain.
If you don’t address the core causes, you’re more likely to have recurring issues and long-term dysfunction—otherwise, if you stop taking pain medication, the pain will just come back.
This is just one of the many reasons why working with a physical therapist is so beneficial! They can help you make sure you don’t have to keep dealing with the same problem, over and over again.
Postural exams, strength, and range of motion testing, balance, motor control, and coordination tests are just a few of the physical therapy services that can help us figure out why your back pain is happening and why the underlying issue formed in the first place. Your physical therapist can then prescribe specific techniques to address these core causes while also providing symptom relief services.
In other words, we seek to resolve the “why’s” of your pain while also resolving the pain itself!
Here are a few specific things you can expect when working with a physical therapist for your back pain:
- A thorough assessment of your condition. To help us clarify your diagnosis, we’ll examine your body, learn about your medical and family history, develop a list of your symptoms (including pain, stiffness, and weakness or numbness in one or both legs), and learn more about your lifestyle and current issues. Even checking on your footwear, walking style, posture, and body mechanics can give a physical therapist a lot of information, so dress comfortably and be ready to move.
- A chance to clarify your goals. It is critical to assist you in making improvements by using objective data such as strength, discomfort levels, and range of motion. But we’ll also spend time learning about the things you want to be able to do and accomplish after your back pain is gone.
- This can involve extremely specialized functional tasks such as golfing or walking your dog around the block without pausing. What’s important to you is important to us! We’ll always keep your goals in mind as we create a treatment plan so you can feel and see your progress in therapy. By keeping your goals and personal vision in the front and center of your plan of care, we also help you have more FUN in your physical therapy sessions!
- A plan of care that combines a customized range of evidence-based interventions. We can make practical recommendations on stress management, diet, and other lifestyle matters, and refer you to other providers as needed. We can prescribe and fit you for adaptive equipment and support devices like braces or orthotics, teach you safer ways to move or complete daily tasks with efficiency and safety, and help you start feeling better so you can exercise regularly again, which we know is good for spinal health and mental well-being.
- Physical therapy services that are effective for alleviating chronic back pain include soft tissue massage, joint mobilizations, spinal manipulations, therapeutic exercise, therapeutic pain education, and non-invasive modalities like electrical stimulation.
Your physical therapist can even help you prepare for or recover from back surgery if this kind of procedure is eventually determined to be appropriate for your needs.
The major benefits of physical therapy
Physical therapy is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the “first lines” of treatment for most types of chronic pain. Altogether, our approach to diagnosing and treating back pain can benefit you by offering:
- Decreased reliance on pain medications or invasive procedures
- Improved cost-effectiveness
- Lowered healthcare costs
- Decreased downtime (unlike back surgeries, which can require months of challenging recovery, often with little or no symptom improvement)
- Improved productivity
- Improved activity tolerance
- Longer-lasting relief
- Improved spinal health
- Reduced risk of recurring issues and worsening tissue damage
- Increased sense of control of your health
- Increased understanding of your pain experience
Don’t surrender – call in the experts!
Physical therapy is proven to be an effective back pain treatment and is safe for people of all ages and health backgrounds. If you’re living with back pain, consider it a thing of the past. What are you waiting for? Contact Mile High Physical Therapy today to schedule an appointment with a physical therapist and get back on the road to the active and pain-free lifestyle you want and deserve!
A physical therapist is a licensed healthcare professional who assists patients with functional limitations by correcting perceived physiological issues that impact their ability to function.
Physical therapists are not medical doctors, but they do have a degree in a related field called human movement or physical therapy.
They are trained in diagnosis, prevention, rehabilitation, exercise programs, and injury assessment.
Physical therapists can help patients overcome neuromuscular or musculoskeletal dysfunctions, manage disorders of the musculoskeletal system, treat sports injuries, use therapeutic strength training equipment, and perform a variety of movements.
A physical therapist's role may vary, but he/she is usually involved in all areas of the patient's physical functioning.A physical therapy professional may also refer patients to a surgeon or orthopedic surgeon for surgical procedures.
To locate a good physical therapy professional in your neighborhood, contact your local office of the Human Resources Department.
Many people suffer from neck and shoulder pain but don't realize that it is very common.
If you have been suffering from this type of pain for more than a few days, and you've tried several things to get rid of the pain, you may be ready to ask your doctor about a physical therapy treatment.
Many times, physical therapy will help to improve your posture, as well.
This will either eliminate or greatly alleviate neck and shoulder pain.
Your PT will help you retrain the stabilizing muscles in both the front and the back of your upper neck so that they can give the strength and balance necessary to hold good posture throughout your daily life.
The problem with neck pain, whether it originates in the neck, shoulders, or any other part of the body, is that when a person is standing or sitting, the weight of their head and neck must rest on the supporting muscles and joints.
